In his message for the celebration of the 50th world day of peace, His Holiness Pope Francis stated that “the eight beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:3-10) provide a portrait of the person we could describe as blessed, good and authentic[1]”. There are two passages in the Gospels that record the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12 and Luke 6:20-26), both of them pronouncing as “blessed” those who are poor[2], hungry[3], grieving[4] and persecuted[5]. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes adds a list of “woes” to those this world would most definitely see as blessed—the rich, those who are well-fed, those “who laugh now” and those
